Providing a startling answer to the questions of how to solve the problems of generational trauma, Trauma Trails moves beyond the rhetoric of victimhood, and provides inspiration for anyone concerned about Indigenous and Non-Indigenous communities today. Judy Atkinson sensitively deals with trauma caused by abuse, alcoholism, and drug dependency.
Trauma trails by Atkinson. I was fortunate that my wife had a copy. It's a little like reading a train wreck. However, after pages of wrecked lives, there is healing, in an Aboriginal way and not a western one. Instead of spiritual healing, there is spiritual awakening. This book tells you how the transgenerational effects of trauma affected and still affects Aboriginal peoples since white settlement.
By sensitively breaking down the causes and consequences of generational trauma in Indigenous communities, Atkinson offers readers, and policy makers, understanding and options for change and healing.
Trauma Trails resonates with my experience of counselling and living in a remote FNQ aboriginal community. I valued Atkinson’s articulate and wide ranging synthesis of the issues and opportunities of offering support to these communities. I am very happy that I lucked onto this book as it is exactly what I wanted/ needed to read to help me with my work.
Re-read. This book has forever changed the way I understand inter generational trauma, especially in the context of First Nations Australians. Aunty Judy’s teachings have profoundly influenced the way I want to support others in my helping profession and my personal cultural healing journey. Very grateful.
3.5 stars. This study/book, through half a dozen specific examples, shares a process for how to heal with a focus on indigenous Australians. It promotes understanding for behaviours that are normally judged as dysfunctional or utilised to generalise/denigrate indigenous peoples that are surviving the impact of colonisation. It left me determined to listen more and judge less.